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http://www.jber.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123231162

Not a whole lot of info, just that the search is getting underway today.

Wow. Sure it's the pilot's arse, but could this be a joyride?

He'd need fuel eventually though.. I haven't looked at the weather yet so I could be talking out of my six, but I know in the past that military fighter-type aircraft have issues with icing, I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

Probably not going to be a good outcome in any case, there aren't too many smooth and level places around AK where a F-22 could make a good landing, or where it would be within friendly territory. One item on my list of possibilities is "defection" to Russia. There could be a lot of money to be made in such a case.

Queso wrote:One item on my list of possibilities is "defection" to Russia. There could be a lot of money to be made in such a case.

That was my first thought. Hopefully not, the best possible outcome now would appear to be that the pilot ditched somewhere and got out safely. If so he'll need to be found quickly - I would imagine the nights in AK are getting pretty harsh by now .

Firefox anyone?

But like Mark said, would he have enough fuel on board to make it?

GQfluffy wrote:But like Mark said, would he have enough fuel on board to make it?

When you consider most patrol missions in AK are very long and are intended as round trips, point-to-point could easily be intercontinental. And then you could throw in the possibility that one could conceivably leave the intended area of operation after refueling. Too many variables to say it wouldn't be possible.

Just as a precautionary, assuming defection isn't what happened here, there should be some unmanned radar linked to some remote anti-aircraft installations along western and northern AK designed to dissuade possible defections.

One thing confuses me....

The article states:

"lost contact with air traffic control at 7:40 p.m. Alaska time today"

Isn't it early am in Alaska right now? The article was posted today - a media blunder and this was really 7:40pm on the 16th maybe??

Yeah, and I didn't mean to necessarily imply that's what has happened here, I just presented it as one possibility. I hope for a good outcome, obviously.

It's 0702 in Alaska right now. That F22 is still unaccounted for. Nothing new on any channel about it.

I don't think there's anyway to go intercontinental from Anchorage to Russia (regardless of what Palin says, it's still a thousand miles away). The cold war is over. I'll call my brother at Elmendorf, he's a Sky Cop there, see what he can tell me and get back to yiu.

Personally, I believe we've lost our first F22 somewhere in the Alaska Range . . .

ANCFlyer wrote:
Personally, I believe we've lost our first F22 somewhere in the Alaska Range . . .

I'm inclined to agree with that, I'm just wondering if it went into the ground doing some low level training, if it iced up or basically, what brought it down. I just how the pilot managed to punch out and make it through the night.

Mark

mark5388916 wrote:

ANCFlyer wrote:
Personally, I believe we've lost our first F22 somewhere in the Alaska Range . . .

I'm inclined to agree with that, I'm just wondering if it went into the ground doing some low level training, if it iced up or basically, what brought it down. I just how the pilot managed to punch out and make it through the night.

Mark

That;s what I wanna find out from my brother, what training was the pilot doing? There's a bomb range near fairbanks and one out in the middle of no where, so who knows. Also, where was this guys wingman? If he "stole" the plane and went up alone, THAT would certainly have hit the news, right?

Lots of unknowns here.

Pep, Who has lead agency for SAR missions in Alaska? I know in CA its the local Sheriffs Office, but I don't know if its the troopers up there. Then again, USAF may have pulled the "its our plane so its our search card"

Mark

Do we have a source other than the one in the OP? Yes, it's as close as you can get to being a real source, but it wouldn't be the first time an organisation has tested their emergency plan only to discover that the test was a little too public, and with the date being "wrong"...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/ ... TE=DEFAULT

Here's one from the AP. They cite a spokeswoman as well.

Mark

mark5388916 wrote:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MILITARY_JET_OVERDUE?SITE=CAACS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Here's one from the AP. They cite a spokeswoman as well.

Mark

That source lists the loss of contact as 7:40pm yesterday. That clears up the date issue.

mark5388916 wrote:Pep, Who has lead agency for SAR missions in Alaska? I know in CA its the local Sheriffs Office, but I don't know if its the troopers up there. Then again, USAF may have pulled the "its our plane so its our search card"

Mark

For Civil Actions, the lead is AST, supported by the 210th Air Rescue Sqdrn of the AK Air Nat'l Guard - they have Pavehawks. I know a few of those guys and they simply ROCK. I've had them drop me into the shit - back in the early 1990s when we lost a C12 near Juneau - and they are VERY good at what they do.

Any military action will be handled by the military. And in this case, again the 210th.

ShanwickOceanic wrote:Do we have a source other than the one in the OP?

I checked local news and papers, and there's only a two para blurb, all mirror to JBER release. Nothing further. My brother is already gone out with the search crews so I don't suspect to get in touch with him until much later today.

Hope the pilot is OK. Kinda mysterious, and I'm surprised this isn't all over the news.

Lucas wrote:Hope the pilot is OK. Kinda mysterious, and I'm surprised this isn't all over the news.

I've seen it on Fox, CNN and Local (naturally) news this morning. And it was a headline, not just a ticker.

ANCFlyer wrote:

mark5388916 wrote:Pep, Who has lead agency for SAR missions in Alaska? I know in CA its the local Sheriffs Office, but I don't know if its the troopers up there. Then again, USAF may have pulled the "its our plane so its our search card"

Mark

For Civil Actions, the lead is AST, supported by the 210th Air Rescue Sqdrn of the AK Air Nat'l Guard - they have Pavehawks. I know a few of those guys and they simply ROCK. I've had them drop me into the shit - back in the early 1990s when we lost a C12 near Juneau - and they are VERY good at what they do.

Any military action will be handled by the military. And in this case, again the 210th.

ShanwickOceanic wrote:Do we have a source other than the one in the OP?

I checked local news and papers, and there's only a two para blurb, all mirror to JBER release. Nothing further. My brother is already gone out with the search crews so I don't suspect to get in touch with him until much later today.

Just curious, I checked with some CAP sources and it doesn't appear that they've been called out yet or if they will be, but if they have HH-60s there they may be handling it all in house.

Mark

This may be an entirely ignorant question, but do military planes have GPS tracking so the military can see where they are at all times via satellite?

It seems if rental car companies can do it with their Chevys and Fords, the Air Force would do it with planes that cost in the hundreds of millions. Hell, one of my clients tracks where all his service techs are throughout the day through some Nextel setup on the trucks.

Earlier I read they were looking northeast of Cantwell, and now it says southeast of Cantwell, but either way, lots of ground to cover. I looked on Google Earth and that looks like some pretty empty country.

It doesn't look good for the pilot, but we can keep hoping for the best...

If the military loses track of a modern airplane in this day and age it isn't lost. It is a smoking hole in the ground, and the pilot is likely with it.

captoveur wrote:If the military loses track of a modern airplane in this day and age it isn't lost. It is a smoking hole in the ground, and the pilot is likely with it.

Boris wrote:now it says southeast of Cantwell